You Decide
by MandiPanda21
Summary: Therox
1. Default Chapter

The blazing fervent, July sun struck each and every person that afternoon, no matter whether they were on the field or off. There was no way escaping it's powerful rays. Each person was affected just from the heat, and with the intensity of the game growing, it caused everyone to feel the it even more.

The sweat glistened down his face as he removed his hat, running his fingers through his golden brown locks. He was in trouble. The game stood at a stand still and with him being the pitcher, everything stood upon his shoulders. 'It's your game to lose,' he could hear the distant voice of his coach resounding in his head. Just one wrong pitch and it could all be ruined. It was too late already. Things were said, tempers grew, and in the end she was gone. This was the one game he had waited so long for. It was all that he had thought about. Now that it was here, all he could think about was her.

He slowly drifted back into reality, and with that he bend over slightly placing his hands behind his back. His nervous fingers caused the ball to dance around in the palm of his hand while he waited for his signal. He shook his head as he watched Dylan, his best friend, signal him a fast ball. The count was full and the batter facing him was the same batter which hit the tying home run just a few innings earlier. Having been granted time by the umpire, Dylan made his way towards the mound where Fox paced back and forth, not taking his eyes off of the ground.

"Listen, Fox," he said quietly enough so only Fox could hear him. Dylan placed his hand upon the back of Fox's shoulder as they turned facing away from the batter and the other team. "You need to get your head in the game. I know how much this game means to you and..." he said pausing and growing unusually quite, "and I know how much she means to you. She's not here right now, Fox, but your team is. We need your help and if you can't do that I'm gonna have to tell Coach McCain that you can't play." Normally hearing such a thing from his own best friend would send some kind of emotion through him, but oddly enough he just stood there not caring at all if he was to be taken out. Dylan shook his head, not understanding why this one girl, out of so many others, had affected him this way. "Just do the fast ball," Dylan said placing the ball into Fox's glove and taking his place once again behind the plate.

He could feel the countless number of eyes staring down at him. This had never been a problem of his before, but today there was something disturbing about it. He didn't know what it was, it was just a feeling that he couldn't shake. Using the back of his hand, he wiped away the perspiration from his brows as his eyes then scanned through the large crowd, hoping against all odds she would be there. He needed her. No matter what he wanted, she didn't show up.

Feeling somewhat defeated, he hung his head down and let a tear escape from the corner of his eye. No one noticed the tear, but Dylan. Dylan had known Fox practically since they were babies. With both of their families being wealthy, they grew up in the same social ladder. They went to the same schools, dated the same girls, wore the same kind of clothes. They were what they liked to call, "Brothers separated at birth." No one knew them like they knew each other, and because of that it made it so hard for Dylan to understand why Theresa had put this spell upon Fox.

As he tossed the rosin bag in his hand, Fox couldn't help but think about how his life was so out of place. He compared his life at that moment to that rosin bag. When left alone, it's in perfect form, but once it's touched, it can be tossed around carelessly. With one quick rub of his hands against part of his uniform, Fox stared the batter before him straight in the eyes and... 


	2. Chapter 1: New Beginnings

The sweet fragrance of spring lingered through the air that April morning. A new day had arrived and with it brought the beginning of a new baseball season. Spring represented new life, and this spring Fox Crane had hoped that he too in a way that he would have a new life. Now being a junior in college, he understood that the next two years would have a great impact on whether he would go pro or not. Playing professional baseball had been Fox's dream since as far back as he could remember it. Baseball wasn't just a hobby for him, it was his life, it was his way to escape the limelight which his family basked in.

Last year ended in disappointment for him. Because he had put too much strain in recent years on his throwing arm, Fox was put on the disabled list for more than half of the season. He had no choice, but to sit out. If he would not cooperate he would end up facing surgery and missing much of next season. Though he could not stand not being able to throw a ball, Fox bared it out, hoping that next season would be his. Fox pitched just three games total last season; having done a horrific job in them all. His ERA was a career high of 9.75, a heartbreaking blow to him. Fox knew ahead of time that he would have to work hard just to prove that he still deserved a spot as a starting pitcher. Fox was very determined and he was not about to let anyone or anything stand in the way of his dream. No one.

A cool crisp wind gently blew, sweeping through the tree branches and awaking the sweet melodies from the birds within the trees. Peaking, almost teasing like, through the clouds was the sun, making an appearance whenever it felt like it. It wasn't a perfect day, but it was good enough of a day to fit in that first game.

Loud, pounding music could be heard not too far behind as Fox stepped out from his Dodge Ram. A smile quickly crept across his face as he took it all in. 'Nothin' like opening day,' he thought to himself as the dirt surrounding him and his car became disturbed and blew about, hitting his squinted eyes. Fox smiled as he saw his best friend emerge from the Nissan Maxia beside his truck. Dylan and Fox may have seemed like they were related, but they looked totally opposite from each other. Dylan was not that much shorter than Fox. He was almost 6'0 ft. tall, where as Fox was a little over 6'0 ft. Unlike Fox's short golden brown locks, Dylan's hair was what some called chestnut. His locks were a tad bit longer and curlier than Fox's as well. The most unique thing about Dylan was his green eyes. His eyes tended to change tints of green from time to time. At times it was noted that his eyes were a light green; and at other times his eyes were a dark green with a small tint of yellow.

"Why don't you just live here?" Dylan said jokingly as he pulled out his bag of equipment from the trunk of his car.

"Ha ha ha," Fox replied sarcastically as he also removed his bag from his car. As Fox placed the strap from his bag upon his shoulder he couldn't help, but notice Dylan's new set of wheels. Fox whistled, following it up with a laugh, "New car?"

Dylan looked at his car up and down, studying it before saying, "This old thing? My sister bought it for me last year for my birthday. I saw it sitting there in the garage today while I tried looking for my bag. I figured I might as well use it," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You mean to tell me you have never drove that car?" Fox said looking doubtful.

"What?" Dylan said trying to pull an act of innocence. Fox knew his friend better than that and gave him a slight slap upon the back of his head as they made their way to the dugout.

"I don't know about this, Jess," the petite and fragile brunette said as she pulled the covers further over her head. For days she had not moved out of that house. She was becoming a hermit and it was all because of Ethan Winthrop, the star quarterback. "I can't go out in public today," she went on whining like a little child who didn't want to go to the dentist. "Just give me one more day," she pleaded with her best friend.

Theresa's best friend Jessica was the exact opposite from Theresa. Jessica grew up in a suburb back in Illinois, where the population was mostly from Polish descent. Jessica too was Polish, but she did not speak it. Her platinum blonde hair stood out wherever she went. Theresa would always joke around with her that she didn't need to see anything, but the color of her hair to spot her.

"Theresa," she said in a calm, soothing voice as she sat beside her. With one quick motion, Jessica pulled the covers back and revealed another world to Theresa. The sun shone through brightly, the rays striking Theresa's face and causing her to quickly close her eyes and cry out.

"What are you trying to blind me?" she said a little annoyed as she pulled the covers back over her head and returned to her cut-off life. Theresa always took things to the heart, especially when it came to love. She had believed for the longest time that Ethan and her were fated to be together, but now she didn't know what to believe.

Jessica shook her head with disappointment, this wasn't the Theresa she knew. Deciding not to give up just yet, Jessica left the room and headed towards the bathroom. There she laid out some clean towels and began running the water for a shower. At once she returned to Theresa's room where she fought Theresa for the covers. With Theresa being so depressed, she gave in easily. The covers were thrown onto the floor and now Jessica stood staring Theresa directly into her eyes. Part of Theresa wondered what exactly she was up to, while the other part of her just didn't care. "Get up," Jessica said softly demanding her.

"No," she said shaking her head. She watched Jessica staring at her like a hawk staring down it's prey. She understood that she was concerned about her, she loved her for that, but she didn't think she needed to go that far.

"Are you going to get up?" She asked nicely one final time. Once again Theresa shook her head no. "Alright," she sighed. Theresa left her no option, but to carry her herself to the bathroom. "Come here," she said not so nicely, trying to reach for her. Theresa put up a fight though by kicking and screaming. Jessica realized that Theresa wasn't going down without a fight, but that didn't let stop her though. She saw an opportunity to grab her legs and she took it. Jessica dragged Theresa by the legs all the way into the kitchen. While dragging her though Jessica caused something to happen that neither of them had anticipated. Theresa laughed. For the first time all that week since Ethan and her broke up Theresa laughed. Jessica loved hearing and seeing her laugh again. Her eyes seemed to dance and her face would light up whenever she laughed.

After both of the ladies had their fair share of laughs, Jessica asked, still having a hard time not laughing at their situation, "So do you think you'll go to the game with me?" Theresa laid on the floor beside Jessica, her head resting upon Jessica's. The question made her feel uncomfortable once more. She sat herself up, and with her knees slightly bent and close to her chest, she stared at the hardwood floor while she shrugged her shoulders. "Come on, Theresa. You need to get out of this place. Please..." she said dragging the last word out and adding, "There's going to be a lot of cute guys there."

Jessica's smile was contagious, and Theresa tried fighting it, but a smile was eventually released. "Okay," she responded while hesitating still a bit. 'Theresa, what are you getting yourself into.'

After practicing before the game for about a half hour, Fox grabbed his water bottle and took a walk around the field with Dylan. There was about ten minutes or so before game time and since Coach McCain had already talked to the team, the boys were free to do what they wanted for the next ten minutes. As the boys walked along the first baseline, Fox noticed one girl standing out among the crowd. She was unlike anything he had ever seen before. His eyes were fixed upon her as the wind swept through her long, dark tresses. She seemed almost like an angel. There was something about her that left him confused though. After watching her for a few moments more it hit Fox...she wasn't happy. There was no indication whatsoever that she was happy or content. She would not smile and her eyes showed pain and heart ache. Fox knew he had to meet this mysterious woman.

"Whose she?" he asked curiously while pointing to her.

Dylan smashed the paper cup from which his was drinking from within his hand. After using the back of his hand to wip away any drops of water that might have dropped onto his face, he turned to Fox and said, "I don't know. She's cute though.." Dylan turned his attention back to the game as he started talking to Fox about what kind of hitters were on their opponents team. Fox paid no attention to Dylan's ramblings, though he should have. His head needed to be concentrating on the game, not on some cute girl. Fox could always be easily distracted; that of course always got him into trouble.

"Let's go over there and say hi," Fox said absently to Dylan as he continued to watch her. Still in all the time that he had watched her, he had not seen her smile once. Fox was definitely intrigued by her.

"The game is about to start and we..." Dylan tried finishing his sentence, but Fox interrupted him. Dylan just shook his head and smiled, 'Same old Fox.'

"Nonsense, there's still about five minutes before game time. Come on," Fox said as he practically dragged Dylan by the arm. A tall, metal fence stood between Fox and that mysterious woman. As Fox wrapped his fingers through the holes in the fence and leaned forward he smiled, noticing that she now noticed him. Most girls would usually smile upon seeing someone so beautiful as Fox before them, but she was different. She looked at him strangely; looking at him as though he was the enemy, someone she could not trust. She stared for a moment before turning her attention to her blonde friend.

Fox could see that she would take some time to convince, but he didn't mind. There was something about her so indescribable. He couldn't find the right words to explain it, but even if he had them no one would understand, certainly not Dylan. "Hello," he said trying to use his deepest and sexiest voice. The woman was not impressed. She merely rolled her eyes and gave a little chuckle as though she was laughing at how pathetic he was. Fox tried to be patient with her. He really liked her and wanted to get to know her. If this was what he had to do, then so be it. "I'm Fox," he said pushing himself forward against the fence.

Pretending not to hear him, she continued talking to her friend. Her friend though was not stupid and said enthusiastically, "Hi! I'm Jessica, well Jessi, and this is Theresa," she smiled as she wrapped her arm around her and brought her close to her.

"Glad to see one of you aren't tongue-tied," he smiled, driving Theresa crazy with how conceded he was.

"I am hardly tongue-tied by someone so conceded as you," she snapped at him. If there was one thing about Theresa that anyone needed to know, it was that she was very short tempered. Anyone little remark could easily set her off. If you ever caught her on one of her bad days, like Fox had, you should know to be careful of what you say around her. Fox didn't know though, he had no idea. That's one of the reasons why he came over in the first place.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," he said laughing along with Theresa's friend. He could see that with every word he spoke it only seemed to aggravate her more. Fox loved to push people's buttons, and in this case he was loving every moment of it.

"Do you honestly think you're some kind of gift from God to women? Cause I'd sure hate to break it to you, but you're nothing special, hun." Theresa stood up with her hand reaching out for Jessi's. "Are you coming?"

Somewhat confused she asked, "Where are you going?"

"I agreed to coming out, but I did not agree to deal with conceded bastards like this," she said crossing her arms and turning her head away from Fox.

Jessi wanted to stay, but she had no choice. It wouldn't be fun to sit and watch the game without someone by her side. Yes, Theresa didn't know or even understand how to baseball, but having her around would be better than anything. Jessi gave in as she stood up and said, "Nice meeting you, Fox."

Fox panicked. He could not let this one get away. There was just something about he, something that intrigued him even more so now that he had actually met her. "Listen I'm sorry," he apologized as he ran after them along side of the metal fence. "I know, I am conceded, I am a bastard, but listen I can be nice," he said smiling like he was trying to sell them some kind of product.

Theresa turned facing him and for a moment Fox had hope that all was forgiven. That angel-like look that he had saw in her before was coming back as she smiled and sweetly said, "Goodbye."

Fox looked about to field and saw that the game was really about to start this time. He nervously bit his lower lip as he tried deciding whether he should run after her or not. "Screw it," he said to himself as he bolted to the parking lot. Jessi and Theresa were about to get into their car when they heard Fox calling out their names. Jessi could only smile. She was a hopeless romantic and loved seeing things like this in real life. "Please, listen to me. I'm going to get in trouble for being here now, but I don't care. I am truly sorry. I just wanted to get to know you. I wanted to ask you out on a date. I walked past the whole crowd and you were the only who stood out to me. That doesn't usually happen to me. I'm not that kind of guy, but there's something about you that I can't get you out of my mind. I know this may sound really creepy and like I'm rambling on like a stupid fool, but I don't care. Please, what can I do to make you stay?"

Jessi was on the verge of tears, while Theresa stood there not seeming as though she was moved by his little speech. "Let me get this right, you want me to go on a date with you?" Fox nodded his head as he tried to catch his breath from running so fast. "I'll tell you what. If you can hit three homeruns today, then I'll go out with you."

"What if I only hit two?" Fox knew that for him to hit three homeruns would be impossible. Two seemed impossible, but better than three.

"If you only hit two, I'll consider going out with you, but that's it. Hit one and we have no deal. I'll never see you again, and you'll never think about me." Theresa knew more than well that she was not going out with Fox. She had always heard that pitchers were usually horrible hitters, so having heard that she used it to her advantage.

"Isn't three a lot? I mean I'm only..." this time Fox was interrupted.

"Don't tell me, you're going to use that lame excuse that pitchers aren't that great of hitters; were you?" She had caught him and she knew it. Looking down on him as he searched for a different excuse brought a smile to her face, and in a way she felt bad for him. "Do we have a deal or not?"

"You have yourself a deal," he said as he shook her hand. As Fox ran back to the field he could not believe he had just made that deal. He wasn't sure if he could even hit one, barely alone three. Standing upon the mound and facing the first batter, Fox felt extremely nervous. The ball danced within his fingers and he waited for Dylan to send him a sign. He shook his head yes and as he prepared to throw the first pitch all he could think was, 'God help me.' 


End file.
